Rumors continue to swirl about a potential Andrew Wiggins trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. While it’s late in the offseason, there is still incentive for both teams to try and work towards a deal. With him on a player option that he may pick up for next year, the Heat could shed Wiggins’ $28.5 million salary for the 2025-26 season.
By preemptively trading him, they would ensure that they’d have up to $95 million in cap space for the summer of 2026. That’s where the Lakers come in. The Lakers have a need for a player of Wiggins’ skill set, with them hoping to bolster their defense around Luka Doncic.
Many of their recent additions, Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, and Jake LaRavia, are all at least good defensive players who could help the Lakers improve on that end of the floor. Wiggins, despite his polarizing perception around the league, is still seen as a talented wing defender.
He could help the Lakers level up as they look to build the best possible team around Doncic, but what would a Wiggins trade look like with the Heat and Lakers?
The Los Angeles Lakers land Andrew Wiggins in a proposed Heat trade
The most likely trade scenario would see the Lakers send Rui Hachimura, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht, and a 2032 second-round pick for Wiggins. It might not be a star-studded return for Wiggins, but it’s fair value for him. Wiggins is probably better than Hachimura but not dramatically so; thus, the addition of former first-round pick Knecht and a 2032 second.
That might be enough to balance the scales. Especially with Hachimura and Kleber both being unrestricted free agents next summer, allowing the Heat to wipe out Wiggins’ potential 2026 salary off their books.
That could be enough for the Heat to agree to a deal with the Lakers. Wiggins would give them another defender, one who is capable of guarding the likes of Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, and Jimmy Butler in the West. He won’t shut them down but hopefully will give the Lakers enough to help slow down some of the West’s top wing scorers.
As far as what they’d be giving up, they wouldn’t be missing much. Hachimura and Kleber are unlikely to return after next season, Knecht is out of the rotation, and a future second is like pocket change to Los Angeles. They can literally throw cash considerations at another team to acquire one down the road.
With less than a month between now and the start of training camp and preseason, if a deal were to happen, then it will likely be done in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
